Coach Scott Sanderson is expecting his team to provide a balanced offensive attack, but there is no denying the centerpiece of the team is going to be junior center Adnan Hodzic.

Hodzic was selected a preseason Atlantic Sun All-Conference team member. In the first few days of practice he is already making his presence known to his teammates.

“Whatever team he is on in practice has the tendency to play a little bit better,” said Sanderson. “He is always a guy you can dump the ball down to on a play.”

Hodzic was fifth overall In the Atlantic Sun Conference last season in scoring with 17.1 points per game. He was fourth in scoring in A-Sun games only with 18.5 points per game. He was second overall in field goal percentage with a 58.7 success rate from the field. He was third in A-Sun games only hitting 60.4 percent from t he field.

Sanderson expects even more offensive production from Hodzic this season.

“He is learning angles in the low post,” said Sanderson. “He is playing with his back to the basket. He shot 74.4 from the free throw line and he is going to the line a lot.

“As the season went on and we started winning so many games in a row he cut down his turnovers. We benefited from that. The last half of the season we averaged 10 more points a game than we did the first half because we cut down on our turnovers and got a few more quality shots.”

The biggest asset for Hodzic might be is willingness to work hard and his ability to not only listen to what the coaches have to say, but to perform what they ask him to try.

“Adnan is very passionate about trying to get better,” said Sanderson. “He had a very good offseason.

“He wants to win. He wants to learn. He is zoned in on what you are saying. When you have a guy like that with his ability then you have someone with a chance to be very special for us.”

The Bisons led the conference overall with a 47.2 field goal percentage and a 3-point shot percentage of 36.3.

Sanderson is also expecting the Bisons to once again be one of the top rebounding teams in the conference. They led the Atlantic Sun overall with a 6.6 rebounding margin.

“We hope we will be an excellent rebounding team again,” said Sanderson. “We have several players who can give you five –to-eight rebounds a game on any given night.”

Hodzic led the team with 7.1 rebounds per game followed by Brandon Brown with 5.8 and Michael Teller with 5.0 per game.

Despite his average per game, Sanderson points to rebounding as the primary way Hodzic is going to take his game to a higher level this season.

“He will play 28-to-30 minutes a game,” said Sanderson. “He has to get on rebound at least every three-or-four minutes. If he does that he going to get eight, nine or 10 rebounds instead of six or seven. That’s a big difference.

“He has to have a nose for the ball, but at the same time he has to understand his value to our team. We can’t afford to him to get silly fouls during the game because he is tired. He has to be very, very smart and to be smart he has to be in great condition.”